Monday, June 24, 2013

Another Summer Craft!

Most, if not all, the blogs I follow are teacher's blogs and many of them are still in school. So, they are writing about teacher related things right now. I am in the project mode right now and checking things off my Summer Things I Need To Do, But Don't Have Time For list.

This includes a lot of Crafts!

And, of course, since we have now discovered Pinterest we all have so many ideas and tutorials we can follow.

So, stick around and I will give you a step-by-step on creating a really neat idea that involves a little bit of paint and a few buttons!

I made lanterns last week and they turned out really cute! Click {HERE} to read about those!

This week I saw several pins on Pinterest that all had swirly trees. Many of them had wild colors of swirls that reminded me of something!

I decided those little circles could be buttons and then had a BRAIN POP. I have my mother-in-law's button box and I have a button box and guess what? I went to visit my mom and she had two button boxes. Quick trip to Hobby-Lobby and here are the steps for the picture:

1. I chose a 12x16 canvas and painted most of it a light purple color. I added some darker purple and white to give it some highlights or dimension.

2. I painted the grass/dirt area at the bottom.

3. I was not happy with it and decided to paint over it and make it greener.

4. Now for the tree. I had planned to free hand the curly-cue things but gave up quickly and drew them with a pencil.

Now for patiently outlining with a tiny brush and brown paint (listening to an audio book at the same time-- Stephen King's Joyland). It took about an hour to do the whole tree.

After finishing what I had drawn with a pencil, I went back and added extra curlies and loops to fill in.

6. I splotched on some grass clumps and flowers. I also added some lighter brown and yellow to give the tree some dimension.

7. Now, for the buttons. My mommy-in-law had some really old buttons that had loops on the back. I knew I could not attach those so I started whacking the back of the buttons with a hammer. Well, that somewhat worked! The loops either smashed flat or broke off and I made usable buttons! My mom's buttons were mostly flat but she did have some interesting shapes and colors. My buttons were mostly colorful. I picked out an assortment from each group and tried placing them on the tree.

Once they were all arranged I hot glued them in place.

8. Hobby Lobby's open backed frames are 50% this week so I made a trip this morning and found a great frame!

What an amazing keepsake from both my moms and me! That painting is for my daughter. I am in the midst of one for myself. And, then I will do another to give my son!

Do you have old buttons you can use for a craft like this? Try it with the steps I listed and use the ones below for inspiration!